Monthly Archives: November 2018

Corrections to today’s newsletter Fri 30 Nov, 2018

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Kia ora e te whānau


My very humblest apologies to two of our staff members for 2019 who are part of  our teaching teams... 

Dorinda Hampton missed out on being in a photo on Monday, and was subsequently missed out by me when sharing the teaching teams with you!


Dorinda will be teaching in Kōwhai (Y3/4) and in Pōhutukawa (Y5/6) - providing release in both of those teams.


Rae Marsh is one of our new teachers who will be in the Pōhutukawa Team - I mistakenly named her as Rae Smith in the Pōhutukawa Team photo.


Ngā mihi nui

Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Kōwhai News Term 4 Week 7

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Hi everyone,

Here is the latest information from the Kōwhai Team.

Athletics Day

Thank you to all the parents who were able to come to our Athletics Day last week. It was wonderful to see so many of you supporting the children in their events. Here are some pictures of the children participating in the events. We are still compiling a video and will upload them ASAP.







Kapa Haka Uniforms

We would love to have all the Kapa Haka uniforms returned to school. Please check if your child has a uniform at home and send it to school next week. Thank you to all those who have already returned their uniforms.

Reading Books

 We are nearing the end of the year and are in the process of returning all reading books to our resource room. Please have a look at home to see if you have any books 'floating' around. We would welcome any from previous years too. as this would help us to know which levels we need to order in 2019. We will leave a box out in the hub each morning for the book to be put into.

If you would like to help to put some books away, we would LOVE to hear from you too!


 Home Learning

 Next week will be our last week with Home learning. We thank you for supporting this part of our programme. Although we won't be sending home spelling and maths, please continue with nightly reading as this assists not only reading fluency but also writing.

Toys/ Jewellery at school

 We have noticed a few toys starting to come to school across the team. Could you please take a moment to look in your child's bag to ensure they only have the items for learning: drink bottle, sunhat, lunch, home learning folder. Fluffy keychains are best to stay at home.
The only jewellery that can be worn at school are items of cultural significance (pounamu or bone carving). Earrings need to be studs only to ensure ears stay safe when the children are playing.

Have a great weekend!

Kōwhai Teaching Team

















Beckenham School Newsletter 30th November 2018

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Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

It has been very busy at school these past weeks as we have been working through a number of changes to our staffing for 2019. We are very excited to have such talented new staff coming on board to compliment our current practice and work alongside us to help our tamariki to grow and succeed. We believe that we have put together some fabulous combinations of talent, new teachers with existing teachers, and we have some teachers moving around our teams too. This enables teachers to share the experiences and learning that teachers in different teams have gained with others and to enable all of our teachers to continue to learn from one another.

In 2019 our roll is expected to be slightly bigger next year than this year, and we have decided to go back to having five distinct teams again. This means that our NE team will be called Koru, and our Year 1/2 team will take on again the name of Kahikatea (a name that they had about 3 years ago before we combined the teams).

The Pōhutukawa (Year 5/6) team will be our biggest team in 2019 so they will be moving over to Parenga next to the Year 7/8 Kauri team (where the Year 3/4 Kōwhai Team are currently). This will allow them to utilise the three classrooms of Kōmanawa and Hangere as break out spaces. Kōwhai (Y3/4) will move into the space in Tahaki currently occupied by the Pōhutkawa Team.

This map may help!

2019 learning spaces:


On Monday this week, at our Staff Only Day, we were fortunate to have our new staff for 2019 join us. Each 2019 team spent the day working together, beginning to learn about the strengths and opportunities that their new team will be able to offer the children. 

In 2019 we are hoping to keep our Teaching Assistants (previously called Teacher Aides  more linked with one team in 2019 so that they too can build strong relationships with the teachers and the children in the team, and their strengths can be utilised to their potential.

We are excited to introduce you to the teams for 2019:

Koru Team - New Entrants

Elizabeth Drummond, Sue Leadbetter (Team Leader), Stacey McLachlan, Jo Smith

 Kahikatea Team (Year 1/2/3)

Paul McKinnel (Teaching Assistant), Jeanette Amies (Teaching Assistant), Jules May, Kristika Burridge,
Anna Reid, Amber Donovan (Team Leader), Charlotte Verity

 Kōwhai Team (Year 3/4)

Paulette Newton (Team Leader), Rowena Barker, Kate Swann, Nick Bruce
(Teaching Assistant yet to be confirmed)

 Pōhutukawa Team (Year 5/6)

Rae Smith, Steve Cooke, Katie McFarlane
Pip Wareing (Teaching Assistant), Gayle McNaughton, Tracy Inwood (Team Leader),
Kerilea Quinn (Teaching Assistant)

 Kauri Team (Year 7/8)

Anne Chin (Teaching Assistant), Chris Stace (Teaching Assistant), Tamsin Hardwick (Teaching Assistant), Jenny Diggle, Nicky Dunlop (Team Leader), Megan Culver, Hannah Elliott, Cath Barrie
We are currently finalising the home groups for 2019, ensuring that they are balanced within each team. Some teams have already begun a transition process for children - visiting the new hubs that they will be learning in next year, and getting to know teachers around the school who are not currently so familiar to them. This will continue over the remaining weeks of the term. We understand that for some of our learners, change can be a time of heightened uncertainty, so our goal is to smooth this journey as much as possible over the next three weeks.

Ngā mihi nui
Sandy Hastings
Principal - Tumuaki

Important Dates

Upcoming Events


Mon 10 Dec - Kauri production.  7 - 8pm
Wed 12 Dec - Kauri production.  7 - 8pm
Fri 14 Dec - Final Celebration Assembly.  9:30 - 10:30am in the school hall
Thu 19 Dec - Year 8 Leavers' assembly and luncheon
Thu 20 Dec - last day of term 4.  School finishes at 12:30pm

Term Dates

Click here to view 2018 and 2019 term dates.

School Notices

Library Stock Take December Monday 10


It is time to look under your beds, in your closets, your school desk, behind cupboards and dark places to get those books back to the school library BEFORE December 10.


Congratulations to...

2019 Student Leaders:

Earlier this month we interviewed Year 7 students who applied for House Captain and Student Council Exec positions for 2019. We had 30 people applying and the group interviews saw fabulous attitudes and ideas. Actually, the whole year has been a bit of an 'extended interview', as we have watched how the children responded in a wide range of situations.
Our current Year 7 cohort has an interesting gender distribution, with 18 boys and 41 girls. 3/4 of the people applying for positions were girls. This year we have decided to move away from our traditional approach of having one boy and one girl as captains/deputies of each house.
Being selected as a House Captain means that students may need to change house for your Year 8 year.

House Captains for 2019:

Freddie Winsor
Ben Evans
Emily Eade
Vienna Scott
Maddi McIvor
Gemma York
Sophia Brown
Meg McDonald

Deputy House Captains for 2019:

Jack Barton
Arran Robertson
Dom Hamilton
Ella Clarke
Roxy Murfin
Morvern McDaid
Samantha Maule
Matilda Hindin
Student Council Exec:
Chairperson: Lucy Gray
Secretary: Paolo Reid
Treasurer: Helena Sice

Te Reo Champion (new role): 

Maia Davis

One area our school will be giving more attention to in 2019 is the use of Te reo Māori in a simple and integrated way, so that whānau, staff and students can learn and use it together.  Our Te Reo Champion will play a pivotal role in supporting us all to make this happen.

We have many more leadership positions that will be sorted at the beginning of the school year in 2019.

Sports News

Canterbury Triathlon

The rain poured for the duration of the Canterbury Triathlon at Pegasus this week. Extremely undesirable conditions for a swim, bike and run but this added challenge did not deter our competitors nor did it dampen the smiles. We are incredibly proud of the determination and physical endurance of our six competitors from Years 5 to 8.


Community Notices

(Notices placed here are contingent on space and do not reflect the views or opinions of the school.)

Aquagym

459 Cashel Street, Ph: 3810299.  Learn to Swim & Coaching.  Aquagym and Sumner Pool.  Book now for January Holidays and Term 1.  Leaders in Aquatic Education.

Beckenham Outdoors Spaces – Newsletter

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Newsletter - Outdoor Spaces Update 1

An Outdoor Spaces Committee has been established to help guide and oversee the development of the outdoor spaces at Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto. The PTA has done an INCREDIBLE job over the past 2-3 years dedicating their fundraising efforts to enable us to develop the outside areas across the school.

The committee comprises of: Matthew McDonald (BOT), Paulette Newton (staff), Amanda Wolt (PTA), Natalie Doering (parent) and Carmel Wade (parent/architect).
The committee has been meeting each fortnight and so far has worked together to:
  • Develop a set of guidelines and processes to enable the school to achieve the best outcome for our students. 
  • Identified the the purpose of the outdoor spaces so there is a natural a ‘flow’ across the school. Criteria:
  1. Reflect the school’s cultural narrative
  2. Accessible for all
  3. Fun and meet the needs of all students
  4. To grow as the school grows. 
  • Identified areas across the school for development and begun to create a timeline for these.
  • Present and ask for school engagement in the process. We have met with the Student School Council about using the school logo - Matau (hook) - to influence the shape of the renewed play space at the centre of the school. They were very excited about this!
We understand that this will be an ongoing plan that will have a number of smaller projects within it. The costings for each of the projects will need to be worked through. The fundraising the PTA have done will be a wonderful contribution towards getting these plans underway, but we don’t assume for a moment that it will cover the total costs! We will be making grant applications and seeking further funding from a variety of sources. Ministry of Education operational funding that the school receives each year is not able to be used to support significant capital investments such as these.
As the children are the Kaitiaki (guardians) of the school grounds and will be the ones using the spaces, it is essential they have a strong voice in this process. Much of the planning and design work will be developed and generated by the students, which is an authentic learning experience. This is such an exciting opportunity, and one that we know will take time to plan to ensure we get the best outcome possible.
The first area that we hope to develop with the students is Pūkaki (new entrants hub). The students have begun the process of generating ideas for this area. We hope to share the ideas before the end of term and work towards development early in term 1.
We will put regular updates in the school newsletter to keep you informed of proposed plans, and at times we will be seeking your input and ideas and offers of support for working bees as we action different areas across the school.

T4 W7 in the Pōhutukawa Team

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Sexuality Road

On Tuesday we will be starting our Sexuality Road topic as part of the Health curriculum. 
We will be teaching the unit in pairs. Tracy and Katie will be taking the Year 6 students, while Gayle and Nick will be taking the Y5 students.
The Y4 students will be joining in with Kōwhai for the afternoons we have Health.
As discussed at the parent meeting at the beginning of the term, we will be covering the following topics:
 
 
Year 5
Year 6
Changing bodies and feelings
Puberty - exploring changes
Identifying external body parts
Being unique
Puberty - exploring changes
Identifying external body parts
Reproductive systems
Hygiene
Relationships
Friendships
Respect and tolerance
Personal opinions
Gender stereotypes - impact on relationships, roles and behaviours
Defining relationships
Communication & decision making
Decision making - demands, practise, thinking ahead about possible consequences
Media - remaining unique and individual
Passive, assertive, aggressive communication
Reproduction
Conception
Eggs and sperm
Explain conception and stages of pregnancy
Where can I go
Support networks
Support networks

We will be encouraging the students to talk about their learning at home with whānau.

Staff Only Day on Monday 26 November

Tomorrow school will be closed due to a staff only day.

Camp helpers' reflections

Many thanks again to our fabulous camp helpers. Your assistance on camp was invaluable. If you have completed the reflection sent home with your poppet, it would be great to have that returned to Tracy at school. Thank you to the four parents who have already returned theirs. It is really helpful to have different perspectives on how the camp went.

Waltham Pool trip

We now have enough support for our trip to Waltham pool in the last week of school. Thank you so much to the volunteers!

Lost property from camp

We would love to reunite this property with owners!! Numerous socks, a single, blue, fitted sheet and a sleeping bag cover.